Toxic Doses and Effects of Industrial and Household Toxins
| Substance | Toxic Dose | Toxic Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Aniline | 50 mg/kg | Methemoglobinemia, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity |
| Arsenic/antimony | 5 mg/kg | Gastric hemorrhage, shock |
| Barium salts | – | Bloody diarrhea, cardiac depression, muscle spasms, respiratory failure, renal failure |
| Benzene products | 50 mg/kg | CNS depression, respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, bone marrow depression, liver damage |
| Bismuth | 0.1-3.5 µg/L | Weakness, fever, anorexia, black gum line, renal damage |
| Cadmium | >41 ng/mL | Severe gastroenteritis, liver damage, acute renal failure; if inhaled as dust or fumes, pulmonary edema |
| Carbon tetrachloride | 5-10 mL (total) | CNS depression, liver and kidney failure |
| Chlorate or bromate salts | 50 mg/kg | Methemoglobinemia, intravascular hemolysis, acute renal failure |
| Cobalt | 0.11-0.45 µg/L | Nerve damage, thyroid dysfunction |
| Copper salts | 50 mg/kg | Generalized capillary damage, kidney and liver damage |
| Cyanide | >5 mg total (>0.5 mg/100 mL of blood) | Confusion, dyspnea, convulsions, death from respiratory failure |
| DDT | 50 mg/kg | Fatigue, confusion, ataxia, convulsions, death from respiratory failure |
| 2.4-D | – | Lethargy, diarrhea, cardiac arrest, hyperpyrexia, convulsion, coma |
| Ergot | 5 mg/kg | Gastrointestinal inflammation, renal damage, gangrene of fingers and toes caused by persistent peripheral vascoconstriction |
| Ethylene glycol | >5 mg/kg | CNS depression, death from renal failure or respiratory paralysis |
| Iron salts | 500 mg/kg | Bloody diarrhea, shock, liver damage |
| Fluoride | 50 mg/kg (0.2-0.3 mg/dL of blood) | Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, tremors, hypocalcemia, shock |
| Formaldehyde | 500 mg/kg | Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, renal failure, circulatory collapse |
| Hydrogen sulfide | 0.1-0.2% in air | Death from respiratory paralysis |
| Sodium hypochlorite | Several ounces of household bleach | Edema of pharynx, glottis, larynx; perforation of esophagus or stomach, pulmonary edema from fumes |
| Iodine | 5 mg/kg | Bloody diarrhea, renal damage, death from asphyxia or circulatory collapse |
| Ipecac, syrup or fluid extract | 1-2 oz fluid extract (14 times more concentrated than syrup) | Shock caused by intractable vomiting and diarrhea, death from cardiac depression |
| Isopropyl alcohol | 500 mg/kg | Severe CNS depression, death from respiratory failure or circulatory collapse |
| Kerosene | 500 mg/kg if swallowed; few mL lethal if aspirated | Severe chemical pneumonitis, coma |
| Lead | 30 g/kg (>120 µg/L blood level) | Gastrointestinal inflammation, liver and kidney damage, encephalopathy in children, paralysis of extremities, death from encephalopathy or peripheral vascular collapse |
| Lye, sodium and potassium hydroxide | 10 g total dose may be fatal | Laryngeal or glottic edema, perforation of esophagus or stomach, severe diarrhea, shock, death |
| Mercury salts | 5 mg/kg | Acute: Death from acute renal failure or peripheral vascular collapse Chronic: Progressive peripheral neuritis, death from renal failure |
| Naphthalene (mothballs) | 5 g/kg | CNS excitement or depression, acute hemolytic anemia, convulsions |
| Nicotine | >5 mg/kg | CNS stimulation followed by depression; vomiting, diarrhea, dyspnea, death from respiratory paralysis |
| Oxalic acid | 50 mg/kg | Shock caused by severe gastroenteritis, hypocalcemia, convulsions, renal damage, coma, death |
| Parathion/organophosphorus insecticides | >5 mg/kg | Vomiting, diarrhea, generalized muscle weakness, convulsions, coma, death, all caused by inhibition of acetylcholinesterase and accumulation of cholinesterase at myoneural junctions |
| Phosphorus | >5 mg/kg | Penetrating burns; liver, kidney, and cardiac damage |
| Quaternary ammonium germicides | 5 mg/kg | CNS depression, dyspnea, death from asphyxia |
| Rotenone | 50 mg/kg | Severe hypoglycemia, tremors, convulsions, respiratory stimulation followed by depression, death from respiratory arrest |
| Selenium | 58-234 µg/L | Metallic taste, nausea, vomiting, headache, pulmonary disorders |
| Silver salts | 3.5-35 g total dose | Bloody diarrhea, severe corrosion of the gastrointestinal tract, coma, convulsions, death |
| Strychnine | >5 mg/kg | Stimulation of spinal cord, tetanic convulsions, death in 1-3 hr (with the face fixed in a grin and the body arched in hyperextension) from anoxia |
| Thallium salts | 5 mg/kg (>50 µg/L blood level) | Hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, encephalopathy (delirium, convulsions, coma), death |
| Turpentine | 500 mg/kg | Aspiration pneumonitis, vomiting, diarrhea, CNS excitement (delirium), stupor, convulsions, coma, death from respiratory failure |
| Zinc | 70-50 µg/L | Hypertension, tachycardia nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough, metallic taste |